Links to All Archived Articles of 2005

ACLU
Forget Abortion; They’re Coming After You Next
Is It Any Wonder I Consider the ACLU A Most Dangerous Organization?
Please ACLU, Don’t Get Me Killed Saving My Civil Liberties
Another Symbol of American History and Religion Falls

America the Beautiful
All Is Not Lost; In Fact, Life is Pretty Good
Grandma Was a Corker; Grandpa Was No Slouch Either
What's So Great About America
TO MY GRANDCHILDREN: BE PROUD
I'm In Favor of the Payment of Reparations
I Love Ben Stein

Education
The Poisonous Federal Involvement in Education

Eminent Domain
Thoughts on Stealing Your Land by Eminent Domain
Eminent Domain Up Close and Personal

Global Warming
The Trouble with the Global Warming Controversy
Shocking News About the Kyoto Treaty
USA Leads on Effective Global Warming Measures

Liberals vs Conservatives
Proof Conservatives Donate More Than Liberals Do
Why In the World Would Anyone Support Senator McCain?
Free Speech Is Under Siege
The Triumph of Rush Limbaugh and Me
9/11 Memorials Being Hijacked by Terrorist Sympathizers
Special Report: Same Day President Calls for Solidifying Victory, Pelosi Urges Surrender
What is Actually Wrong With The Democrats? Are They Really This Stupid? Are They Really This Deceitful?
The Incredible Deceit of Some Democrat Senators, But Not All
The Attempted Impeachment of the President Implodes
Great! First They Shut Down the CIA; Now the Senate
The Criminalization of Republican Politicians
I Heard A Nice Lady Call Rush Limbaugh Today
The Inconvenience of Certain Facts
It's More Than Just Liberals and Conservatives
The War Between Left and Right
I Wish I could Have Said This As Well As Rush Did
Sandy Berger's Pants and 9/11
The Best Explanation I’ve Seen on Tom Delay’s Indictment
Clinton Revises History; President Bush Responds
More Katrina Lies and Other Abominations
Understanding the Hatred of Roberts and America by Some on the Left
I Must Defend the President and New Orleans from Katrina Smears
Senator Nelson Likes $5 Gas That No One Can Get

Multiculturalism
Two Wins for America on 9/11 Memorials; Multiculturalism Loses
The American Race
Multiculturalism And The London Bombings
Every August the Ghouls Come Out
Multiculturalism Is the Poison That Could Kill Us

Neodarwinism
The Pendulum Turns on Darwinism and Good and Evil
Darwinism Revisited
President Bush and Intelligent Design

Politics
The Great Republican Illusion
The Political Virus and a Flu Pandemic
Simmer Down and Think about Harriet Miers
Bush Deserves Criticism Not on Katrina but on Immigration

Other
Some Interesting Graphics, Pictures and Cartoons
For a New Englander, the Greatest Sports Picture of All Time
Don't Tell FBI Agents Anything About Anything
The Great Contrasts of My Year Last Year
How to Make Your Web Surfing 10X Faster
SSI and The Time Value of Money
Ted Williams Head

Society in General
They Don't Make Baseball Like That Anymore
If I Should Die Before I Wake, I Pray The Lord My Soul To Take
The Established Religion of the United States
Rick Santorum Gets It; Kennedy and Kerry Don’t
Some Good News about America For a Change

War On Muslim Terrorism
A Happy New Year With Some Good News
I Remember Robert Stethem
The New York Times Must Be Stopped
A Patriot Acts By Ben Stein
Headlines You Never Saw and Hopefully Never Will
The Slander of US Forces on the Eve of the Election
Not Every European Cowers In His Wine Cellar
The French Are Late to the Party, but Starting to Get It
Happy Thanksgiving to All with Special Thanks to American Soldiers and to Michael Yon
If We Lose This War on Terror, We Lose the America We Know
SHOULD WE PULL OUT OF IRAQ? by Mason P. Wilson, Jr.
What's a president to do?
The Religion of Peace?
Peaceful Muslims Need to Make Some Changes
President Bush's Magnificent Speech on Confronting Islamic Terrorism
Muslim Stamp Continues to Raise Objections Undermining Bush’s Policies
President Bush Has a Big Problem
I Can't Imagine Anything Worse Than This Iraq War
Keep the FBI's Feet to the Fire on Anthrax Attacks
September 11, 2001 - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
Meanwhile Progress Continues As Iraq's Sunnis Register to Vote in Droves

The Best Explanation I’ve Seen on Tom Delay’s Indictment

The Democrats are constantly overreaching themselves. Wherever you look: the smears of Judge Roberts, recriminations and fake reports over Hurricane Katrina, charges against Karl Rove, charges of voter fraud in Ohio in 2004 and Florida in 2000, phony documents about President Bush’s National Guard service – and now this indictment because the Democrats hate Delay for putting through a legal and necessary redistricting in Texas. This isn’t 1987, or even 1991, when they can destroy the reputations of Judge Bork and Judge Thomas – just because they disagreed with their view of the proper role of judges in our judicial system. Today conservatives have a plethora of news sources where they can learn the truth and present the truth. Today we don’t have to take the bias and even the lies put out by the NY Times, the Washington Post and the major TV networks.

From The National Review
September 29, 2005, 1:17 p.m.
Targeting DeLay

“Following the indictment of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, conservatives are left wondering what to make of the charges. The answer is simple. The charges are absurd and should be thrown out of court.

Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle has charged DeLay with conspiracy to make a contribution to a political party in violation of the Texas Election Code. The alleged violation involved a money swap between the now-defunct Texans for a Republican Majority PAC (TRMPAC), which DeLay helped found but never managed, and the Republican National State Elections Committee (RNSEC). TRMPAC sent a check for $190,000 to RNSEC, and RNSEC then sent checks totaling approximately the same amount to Texas House candidates in October of 2002. Earle, a Democrat, calls this money laundering, because the money that TRMPAC sent to RNSEC came from corporations, which are barred from contributing to campaigns in Texas.

Earle is wrong. Before campaign-finance reform, this kind of soft-money for hard-money swap was perfectly legal and happened all the time. In October of 2002, the Texas Democratic party did the same thing when it sent $75,000 to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and received $75,000 back from the DNC.
Also, as former Department of Justice official Barbara Comstock noted yesterday, “Had corporations sent money directly to the RNC or RNSEC, the transaction would be legal. How could anyone conspire to do indirectly what could legally have been done directly?” Earle considers these transactions illegal because he thinks they should be, and he’s convinced a grand jury to play along with him.

Even if the underlying transactions were illegal, Earle would have to convince a jury that DeLay conspired with others to send the checks. DeLay told Brit Hume on Fox News Wednesday night that he was not aware of the transactions until after they had already taken place. If Earle has any evidence proving otherwise, he left it out of the indictment.

It should come as no surprise that the mastermind of such a farcical case also conducted a farcical investigation, which dragged on for 34 months and six grand juries. Accused of frequently leaking sealed proceedings, Earle also discussed the case as the featured speaker at a Democratic-party fundraiser last May. He told the crowd, “This case is not just about Tom DeLay. If it isn't this Tom DeLay, it'll be another one, just like one bully replaces the one before. This is a structural problem involving the combination of money and power. Money brings power and power corrupts.”

Earle should know. He has already abused his power in this case to extort money from corporations for his own pet projects in exchange for dismissing indictments he brought against them, as Byron York has reported.

These charges probably won’t survive first contact with DeLay’s attorney, who also defended Texas Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison in Earle’s crash-and-burn case against her in 1993. Hutchison, up for reelection, insisted on a jury trial. As soon as a jury was chosen, Earle refused to proceed. That judge threw out the case. The same thing should happen this time, if the case even makes it to trial.

One needn't be a DeLay flack to see this. We have had criticisms of DeLay ourselves — his support of the Medicare-drug benefit, his relationship with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and his recent comments about the “pared down” budget all come to mind. But this indictment is outrageous and should not be allowed to succeed as a tactic. While the political fallout of this indictment will take time to sort through, this case makes one thing clear: Campaign-finance regulation makes prosecution a continuation of politics by other means.”

Some Good News about America For a Change

In the wake of the scandalous reaction of the welfare underclass in New Orleans to the Katrina hurricane, a recent column by David Brooks in the NY Times was refreshing to read, but it probably bored most of its readers. Brooks pointed out that many good things have been happening in this country for the last few years, and they have spanned both Democrat and Republican administrations. He points out that:

“The rate of family violence in this country has dropped by more than half since 1993. The decline in domestic violence is of a piece with the decline in violent crime over all. Violent crime over all is down by 55 percent since 1993 and violence by teenagers has dropped an astonishing 71 percent, according to the Department of Justice.

The number of drunken driving fatalities has declined by 38 percent since 1982, according to the Department of Transportation, even though the number of vehicle miles traveled is up 81 percent. The total consumption of hard liquor by Americans over that time has declined by over 30 percent.

Teenage pregnancy has declined by 28 percent since its peak in 1990. Teenage births are down significantly and, according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, the number of abortions performed in the country has also been declining since the early 1990's.

Fewer children are living in poverty, even allowing for an uptick during the last recession. There's even evidence that divorce rates are declining, albeit at a much more gradual pace. People with college degrees are seeing a sharp decline in divorce, especially if they were born after 1955.”

What David Brooks reports is substantiated by a recent government report on changes related to the welfare reform legislation passed in 1996:
“Overall poverty, child poverty, and black child poverty have all dropped substantially. Although some predicted that welfare reform would push an additional 2.6 million persons into poverty, the U.S. Bureau of the Census reports there are 3.5 million fewer people living in poverty today than there were in 1995 (the last year before the reform).

• Some 2.9 million fewer children live in poverty today than in 1995
• Decreases in poverty have been greatest among black children
In fact, the poverty rate for black children is now at the lowest point in U.S. history. There are 1.2 million fewer black children in poverty today than there were in the mid-1990s.
• Hunger among children has been cut roughly in half
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), there are 420,000 fewer hungry children today than at the time welfare reform was enacted.
• Welfare caseloads have been cut nearly in half
and employment of the most disadvantaged single mothers has increased from 50 percent to 100 percent.
• The explosive growth of out-of-wedlock childbearing has come to a virtual halt

The share of children living in single-mother families has fallen, and the share living in married-couple families has increased, especially among black families.
In recent years after enactment of welfare reform, states have reported an average of 843,000 new job entries each year. As a result, millions of families have been able to end their dependency on welfare and achieve self-sufficiency. The welfare caseload has declined by 55 percent and the total number of families receiving assistance is now lower than at any time since 1970”

It is clear that most of this good news is the direct result of the TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) program, which is what the welfare reform legislation is called. The planned looting, the evacuation difficulties, the shootings and the wide-scale criminal behavior in New Orleans after Katrina clearly shows that much more needs to be done, and that the federal government has to clamp down on “temporary” exemptions to the requirements of TANF.

The report concludes: “When TANF is reauthorized, federal work requirements should be strengthened to ensure that states require all able-bodied parents to engage in a supervised job search, community service work, or skills training as a condition of receiving aid. Even more important, Congress must recognize that the most effective way to reduce child poverty and increase child well-being is to increase the number of stable, productive marriages.”

Clinton Revises History; President Bush Responds

Those of us who wish ex-Presidents Carter and Clinton would honor American traditions and keep their thoughts to themselves once out of office are delighted that President Bush rebutted the attempts by ex-President Clinton to revise history this week. Here are President Bush's comments:

"Listen, there are differences of opinion about the way forward; I understand that. Some Americans want us to withdraw our troops so that we can escape the violence. I recognize their good intentions, but their position is wrong. Withdrawing our troops would make the world more dangerous, and make America less safe. To leave Iraq now would be to repeat the costly mistakes of the past that led to the attacks of September the 11th, 2001. The terrorists saw our response to the hostage crisis in Iran, the bombings in the Marine barracks in Lebanon, the first World Trade Center attack, the killing of American soldiers in Somalia, the destruction of two U.S. embassies in Africa, and the attack on the USS Cole.

The terrorists concluded that we lacked the courage and character to defend ourselves, and so they attacked us. Now the terrorists are testing our will and resolve in Iraq. If we fail that test, the consequences for the safety and security of the American people would be enormous. Our withdrawal from Iraq would allow the terrorists to claim an historic victory over the United States. It would leave our enemies emboldened and allow men like Zarqawi and bin Laden to dominate the Middle East and launch more attacks on America and other free nations. The battle lines are drawn, and there is no middle ground: either we defeat the terrorists and help the Iraqis build a working democracy, or the terrorists will impose their dark ideology on the Iraqi people and make that country a source of terror and instability to come for decades.

The only way the terrorists can win is if we lose our nerve and abandon the mission. For the security of the American people, that's not going to happen on my watch. We'll do our duty. We'll defeat our enemies in Iraq and other fronts in the war on terror. We'll lay the foundation of peace for our children and grandchildren."

I didn’t vote for President Bush because he was a great orator, but because of his character and his beliefs. I have often wished, however, that he would defend himself against the nay-sayers and the America-haters more often and more forcefully. There is no new and wondrous policy to be put in place; there is no withdrawal timetable to be announced. Those of us who are grownups recognize that this continues to be a long, hard fight, and even if Iraq calms down and truly establishes a working, peaceful democracy, American troops are going to have to stay there to protect the oilfields and the oil-supply routes until the hydrogen cars are coming off the line in large numbers.

Please ACLU, Don’t Get Me Killed Saving My Civil Liberties

The ACLU has become so divorced from any semblance of common sense, it should be opposed on every front. This organization, which is trying to destroy the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts, is now trying to interfere with attempts on the part of local authorities to protect good Samaritans from criminals mixed in with Katrina refugees.

Rhode Island recently greeted more than 100 refugees. State police did criminal background checks on every refugee and found that more than half had criminal arrest records — a third of them for felonies. In South Carolina, state police checked every evacuee flown there by the government. Of 547 people checked, 301 had criminal records, according to Robert Stewart, state Law Enforcement Division Chief.

The state police in West Virginia said roughly half of the nearly 350 Katrina victims evacuated by the government to that state had criminal records, and 22 percent have a history of committing a violent crime. The state police in West Virginia said roughly half of the nearly 350 Katrina victims evacuated by the government to that state had criminal records, and 22 percent have a history of committing a violent crime.

In Massachusetts, where about 200 evacuees were flown to a military base on Cape Cod, criminal background checks turned up six sex offenders and one man wanted for rape in Louisiana. Two of the sex offenders have since left the state, said Katie Ford, a spokeswoman for the state public safety office. The rape suspect was being held on $250,000 bail.

"It's a balancing act," said Kyle Smith, deputy director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. "We don't want to treat them like criminals after they have been traumatized, but we want to make sure they are in no danger nor the families they are housed with."

If this makes sense to you, contrast that to what ACLU attorneys think, as they move to prevent these background checks. “These checks amount to thinly veiled race and class discrimination against people who have suffered already.”
"I think it's happening partly because who these people are and where they came from," said Steve Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island ACLU. "The mere fact that people have past criminal records in and of itself doesn't say anything about harm to the community."

This loony attitude by ACLU leaders comes after throwing their support and resources to defending NAMBLA (an organization that encourages male pedophiles to molest young boys) in a lawsuit brought by the family of Jeffrey Curley. Jeffrey’s killers did not simply read NAMBLA's materials and ponder its message. Salvatore Sicari and Charles Jaynes actively sought a boy with whom to copulate; then they picked 10-year-old Jeffrey Curley of Cambridge, Massachusetts. They lured him into their car as he played outside his home in October 1997. When Curley resisted their sexual advances, they choked him to death with a gasoline-soaked rag. Then they took the boy's body across state lines to Jayne's apartment in Manchester, New Hampshire. They molested the cadaver and stuffed it into a cement-filled Rubbermaid container. Jaynes and Sicari were convicted of these crimes in 1998, for which they are serving life sentences.

Now if you think that this is a terrible crime, but just because an organization publishes a web site celebrating sex between men and young boys shouldn’t make them liable for the consequences of their advocacy, listen to the extent that NAMBLA carries this grotesque message:

NAMBLA is "not just publishing material that says it's OK to have sex with children and advocating changing the law," says Larry Frisoli, a Cambridge attorney who is arguing the Curleys case in federal court. NAMBLA, he says, "is actively training their members how to rape children and get away with it. They distribute child pornography and trade live children among NAMBLA members with the purpose of having sex with them."

Frisoli cites a NAMBLA publication he calls "The Rape and Escape Manual." Its actual title is "The Survival Manual: The Man's Guide to Staying Alive in Man-Boy Sexual Relationships." "Its chapters explain how to build relationships with children," Frisoli tells me. "How to gain the confidence of children's parents. Where to go to have sex with children so as not to get caught...There is advice, if one gets caught, on when to leave America and how to rip off credit card companies to get cash to finance your flight. It's pretty detailed."

"In his diary, Jaynes said he had reservations about having sex with children until he discovered NAMBLA," Frisoli continues. "It's in his diary in 1996, around the time he joined NAMBLA, one year before the death of Jeffrey Curley."

Again I say to the ACLU, “Please stop protecting my rights before you kill me or some member of my family”; and I say to those who support and send money to the ACLU, “they are no longer a worthy cause; you are supporting a form of domestic terrorism”.

Eminent Domain Up Close and Personal

As of this writing, 30 states have taken up measures to limit the unconscionable land-grab power that the Kelo vs. New London Supreme Court decision gave to public agencies to take private property and transfer its ownership to other private parties.

In Texas and Mississippi, effective legislation has been passed and approved, but in California, Democratic legislators have been successful in thwarting, so far, a measure that would protect both private individuals and businesses.

The following article by Suzette Kelo, on her own experience that led to the Kelo vs. New London decision, appeared on September 20, 2005 in the Washington Times:

“I am the Kelo in Kelo v. City of New London -- the now-infamous U.S. Supreme Court case in which the court ruled private property, including my home, could be taken by another private party promising to create more jobs and taxes with the land. Just last week, three of my neighbors got eviction notices, giving them 30 to 90 days to leave their homes.

I received just such a notice five years ago, the day before Thanksgiving, which marked the beginning of my fight to defend what is rightfully mine. It took a gutsy demand from my state's governor to finally make the private condemning agency back down for now on its demand that I and my neighbors give up our homes so they could be bulldozed.

Today, I am scheduled to testify before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on eminent domain abuse. I sincerely hope Congress will do what judges and local legislators so far have failed to do for me and for thousands of others across the nation: protect our homes under a plain reading of the U.S. Constitution, which says government may only take private property for a "public use."

Federal lawmakers should pass legislation that will withhold federal funding for eminent domain projects that are for private development -- such as the one that could take my home, and which received $2 million in federal funds. While this legislation is very important, it is not a magic solution to the many problems surrounding government use of eminent domain. If homeowners, small business owners, churches and others are to be safe, state and local lawmakers across the nation should follow the congressional lead and do what they should have been doing all along: respect our right to own property rather than cut sweetheart deals with developers who tempt lawmakers with the promise of more taxes and jobs. What we have now at the local, state and federal level amounts to "government by the highest bidder."

Think I'm overstating the problem? Consider my story, variations of which are playing out with literally thousand of homeowners nationwide who now live under the threat of eminent domain for some other private party's profit.

I grew up in southeastern Connecticut and bought my house at 8 East St. in New London in 1997. It was just what I wanted: great view of the water, affordable price, nice neighbors. I enjoyed fixing it up and making my family's home. I invested a lot of time and energy in this house and my neighborhood.

In 1998, a real estate agent came by and made me an offer on the house on behalf of an unnamed buyer. I explained to her I was not interested in selling, but she said my home would be taken by eminent domain if I refused to sell. She told me stories of her relatives who had lost their homes to eminent domain. Her advice? Give up. The government always wins.

Why did the City and the New London Development Corp. (NLDC) want to kick us out? To make way for up-scale condos and other private developments that could bring in more taxes to the city and possibly more jobs. The poor and middle class had to make way for the rich and politically connected. If the government was taking our property for a road or firehouse, I would be prepared to sell without a fight. But the government should not be able to force me to sell my home so someone else can enjoy my view. NLDC wants my land to market to a developer for projects to "complement" our area's new Pfizer facility. This is for private profit, not public use.

Nearly all my neighbors' homes have been bulldozed -- all but those seven families who stayed and fought not only for our rights, but for the rights of homeowners nationwide. Like my neighbors up the street, I worked hard (in my case, at up to three jobs at a time) to pay for my home. And we should not be forced out by our own government simply because someone else who carries more political clout wants the land for a nonpublic use. Isn't that what the courts, Congress and the Constitution are supposed to protect us from?

As I sat there in the U.S. Supreme Court back in February and listened to the justices hear my case, I was so disappointed their very first question and first concern was for the power of government rather than the rights of citizens.
In many ways, my neighbors and I are the victims of legislators, lawyers and judges who believe it is somehow a sign of intelligence to make language that clearly means one thing mean something exactly the opposite: "Public use" now means private use; judges don't judge but instead let legislators decide whether they're violating the Constitution. There is nothing intelligent about misusing language in this way to take away people's homes and their rights.

What is happening to me should not happen to anyone else. Congress and state legislatures need to send a message to local governments that this kind of abuse of power not only won't be funded, it won't be tolerated. Special interests -- developers and governments that benefit from this use of power --are working to convince the public there is no problem, but I am living proof there is.

This battle against eminent domain abuse may have started as a way for me to save my little salmon-pink cottage, but it has rightfully grown in something much larger -- the fight to restore the American Dream and the sacredness and security of each of our homes.”

Susette Kelo is a homeowner from New London, Conn. She was lead plaintiff in the landmark eminent domain case Kelo v. City of New London.

Keep the FBI's Feet to the Fire on Anthrax Attacks

It’s hard to understand the silence that has fallen on the investigation into the terrorism scare triggered by the anthrax attacks shortly after 9/11. I’m not at all a conspiracy buff, but this case is just filled with coincidences that have caused much speculation that the anthrax letters were a follow-up terrorist attack carried out by Islamic terrorists tied to the 19 Muslims directly involved in 9/11. There is no new public information I know of, however, the following report (excerpts) in Friday’s Washington Post reawakened my interest:

“Four years after the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks, one of the most exhaustive investigations in FBI history has yielded no arrests and is showing signs of growing cold as officials have sharply reduced the number of agents on the case…..

FBI officials said yesterday that investigators are still working diligently to find whoever was responsible for the anthrax-bacteria-laced mailings, which killed five people, sickened 17 others and led to the temporary shutdown of the House, Senate and Supreme Court buildings and numerous postal facilities. They said they are getting assistance from forensics experts and scientific researchers from law enforcement agencies, the intelligence community, university laboratories and private corporations…..

The report will include the names of various people deemed to be "persons of interest" over the years, as well as updates on the scientific tests. Authorities long ago narrowed down the type of anthrax to a strain called Ames but have been unable to identify the lab of origin. Much attention has focused on the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, housed at Fort Detrick in the Frederick area.” Washington Post, 9/16/05

The first anthrax-tainted letters were apparently mailed exactly a week after 9/11. The recipients were major media figures, two U.S. Senators, and an editor at a Florida tabloid (the Sun) that had published articles critical of Osama bin Laden. The targets chosen ensured that the attacks would get maximum media coverage. Notes accompanying three of the letters were dated 9/11/01 and were signed "Allah is great."

The letters were postmarked from Trenton, New Jersey. Mohammed Atta is known to have traveled to New Jersey on multiple occasions to meet with other Al Qaeda operatives based there. The 9/11 Commission documented, after a foreign air trip, an auto trip by Atta to Virginia that fits the time frame. All of his other long trips were by air. This time he may have needed to deliver something requiring privacy and security.

One hallmark of major Al Qaeda operations has been that a major series of attacks is often followed by another attack as in this summer's London bombings and failed follow-up and the foiled follow-up to the Madrid bombings in Spain.

At least 15 of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers had Florida connections, and we know Mohammed Atta was within three miles of the American Media building. We know he was within a mile of Bob Stevens' house, the AMI photo-editor who was the first victim.
Several of the hijackers rented an apartment from a real estate agent who is the wife of the Sun’s editor, Mike Irish. The Sun is published by AMI.

I have only mentioned a few of the many, many coincidences that tie the 9/11 hijackers to the anthrax attacks, yet the public posture of the FBI is that these attacks were carried out by one US citizen, and most of their investigative resources have been directed, unsuccessfully, to proving that. We accepted the ridiculous “single bullet” theory once because the alternative had unthinkable consequences. Are we being fed another “single bullet” theory for similar reasons?

Another Symbol of American History and Religion Falls

Now that U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton, a Carter appointee with many loony decisions behind him, has ruled that the Pledge of Allegiance’s reference to one nation "under God" violates school children's right to be "free from a coercive requirement to affirm God", a new battle has been joined. The judge has granted legal standing to two families represented by an atheist who lost his previous battle before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The founders of our country were well aware that history teaches that when there is one established religion, there is tyranny; when there are two religions, there is war; and when there are many religions, there can be peace and freedom.

This is why they were so careful to arrange a structure of government that would never recognize and support a particular religion. On the other hand, belief in an Almighty God was evident in everything they said and did, and is ingrained in our Constitution, our Declaration of Independence, our coinage and in our public institutions and practices.

Until the wider acceptance of Darwinism, and the cultural revolution of the 1960’s and 1970’s, among other influences, the separation of religion and government together with the acknowledgement of God in our history seemed to work pretty well.

Nowadays, not a day goes by that some group or person is attempting to remove from public life another symbol of God or Christianity – from the pledge, as above, from the courthouse, from the commons, etc. Why do conservatives cringe and react when these things happen? We object to these removal attempts because we sense that hatred of religion is often the motivating factor, and not protection of the Constitution.

There is a big difference between passing a law that establishes a state religion, and recognizing that belief in God is enmeshed in our history and enshrined in our traditions. As far as the pledge is concerned, another symbol of American traditions has been threatened, one that we have had for more than 50 years. It is absurd that a school child can’t just ignore the words he has been taught to hate so that all the rest of us can have our children learn to honor a traditional American value. The mention of God in the pledge has nothing to do with the establishment of a state religion. This is tyranny of the majority by a tiny minority.

More Katrina Lies and Other Abominations

1. Spending trillions on welfare leads to the “Great Society”

“What Hurricane Katrina exposed was the psychological consequences of the welfare state. What we consider "normal" behavior in an emergency is behavior that is normal for people who have values and take the responsibility to pursue and protect them. People with values respond to a disaster by fighting against it and doing whatever it takes to overcome the difficulties they face. They don't sit around and complain that the government hasn't taken care of them. And they don't use the chaos of a disaster as an opportunity to prey on their fellow men.

But what about criminals and welfare parasites? Do they worry about saving their houses and property? They don't, because they don't own anything. Do they worry about what is going to happen to their businesses or how they are going to make a living? They never worried about those things before. Do they worry about crime and looting? But living off of stolen wealth is a way of life for them.
People living in piles of their own trash, while petulantly complaining that other people aren't doing enough to take care of them and then shooting at those who come to rescue them—this is not just a description of the chaos at the Superdome. It is a perfect summary of the 40-year history of the welfare state and its public housing projects.” Robert Tracinski, “Real Clear Politics”, 9/5/05

2. Gratitude for the incredible response to Katrina destruction is coming from all quarters.
“The drumbeat of partisan ingratitude continues even after the president flooded the city with National Guardsmen from a dozen states, paratroopers from Fort Bragg and Marines from the Atlantic and the Pacific. The flutter and chatter of the helicopters above the ghostly abandoned city, some of them from as far away as Singapore and averaging 240 missions a day, is eerily reminiscent of the last days of Saigon. Nevertheless, Sen. Mary Landrieu, who seems to think she's cute when she's mad, even threatened on national television to punch out the president -- a felony, by the way, even as a threat. Mayor Nagin, who you might think would be looking for a place to hide, and Gov. Blanco, nursing a bigtime snit, can't find the right word of thanks to a nation pouring out its heart and emptying its pockets. Maybe the senator should consider punching out the governor, only a misdemeanor.

The race hustlers waited for three days to inflame a tense situation, but then set to work with their usual dedication. The Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, our self-appointed twin ambassadors of ill will, made the scene as soon as they could, taking up the coded cry that Katrina was the work of white folks, that a shortage of white looters and snipers made looting and sniping look like black crime, that calling the refugees "refugees" was an act of linguistic racism. A "civil rights activist" on Arianna Huffington's celebrity blog even floated the rumor that the starving folks abandoned in New Orleans had been forced to eat their dead -- after only four days. New Orleans has a reputation for its unusual cuisine, but this tale was so tall that nobody paid it much attention. Neither did anyone tell the tale-bearer to put a dirty sock in it. “Washington Times”, 9/6/05

3. Watch MSM television or read newspapers to find out what’s happening

“All of this is stuff and nonsense. The tragedy is that the media know it too, but they still printed it.

The media know that the first response to natural disasters is always from the local and state governments. They’ve covered enough hurricanes to understand that. They know, or should know, that the response from the federal government, especially the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is always in the second phase of recovery, not the first. They know, or should know, that a state’s National Guard is commanded by the governor, not the president. They know, or should know, that active-duty U.S. military personnel cannot act as law enforcement. But none of this was reported.

As for a president’s role, it has traditionally been in declaring disaster areas so that the victims can get grants and low-interest loans to rebuild, and ordering FEMA into the area. His role also traditionally includes a visit to the stricken area. That’s pretty much it, unless you’re George W. Bush; then that’s not enough. Not reported was that it was Bush himself who, before the storm hit, pleaded with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco to order a mandatory evacuation.

The misreporting of the tragedy, and the false impression it has left with some, is even being used now for other political advantage. On Monday, NBC’s Matt Lauer interviewed “Meet the Press” anchor Tim Russert about Bush’s Supreme Court appointments. Russert said “there was a perception created of incompetence, some even said callousness and he needs to replace it with compassion” by appointing a moderate, a liberal or even a minority to the high court.” John Ham, “Carolina Journal”, 9/6/05

4. 10,000 bodies are under the waters of Louisiana

As of today, September 14, 2005, 659 bodies had been recovered.
“Authorities said the toll would be lower if nursing-home owners Salvador and Mable Mangano had heeded warnings to evacuate their patients as Katrina came ashore Aug. 29.
"The pathetic thing in this case was that they were asked if they wanted to move them and they did not," Foti said. "They were warned repeatedly that this storm was coming. In effect, their inaction resulted in the deaths of these people."” Washington Times, 9/14/05

Understanding the Hatred of Roberts and America by Some on the Left

The raw hatred spewed by the NARAL ad attacking Judge Roberts was almost physically hurtful to view. How have we come to this point – where a leftist political organization thinks it is acceptable to air such cruel lies about and try to destroy a decent man? How can a university professor like Ward Churchill refer to the victims of 9/11 as “little Eichmanns who got what was coming to them”? At least when Senator McCarthy, back in the 1950’s, tried to destroy people, he thought he was saving America. These people would destroy us.

I submit that much of this vicious rage stems from years of proselytizing by teachers, professors and politicians who believe and teach that America is an evil place. I see my grandchildren being exposed to it in the public schools. I witnessed it on the part of fellow-professors in the college where I taught – a college that was operated by the Catholic Church, no less. The problem is, it stems from an ignorance of a wider view of history or from distortions of history that are being passed on. It also stems from holding America not just to high standards, but to impossible standards.

For example, much is made of the fact that we supported Saddam during the Iran-Iraq war. This was the lesser of two evils since Iran was considered a greater threat to us than Iraq at that time. The lesser-of-two-evils concept is well-known and universally practiced by all nations in the conduct of their foreign policy. We also supported dictators when they allied with us to oppose worldwide communism, at a time when the Soviet Union represented the greatest threat to the USA. Again, this was the lesser of two evils.

Much is also made of the fact that we once had slavery in this country, forgetting, conveniently, that slavery has been practiced in every civilization in history, and still goes on in some places. That Western culture was the first culture voluntarily to end slavery, and we gave up 600,000 lives in the process, does not seem to register with these people. This poisonous view of history has a name; it is called “multiculturalism”, and it is the belief that other cultures are equal to or superior to ours. It was and is still the “melting pot” that makes America great. Multiculturalism, left unchecked, can lead to the Balkanization and destruction of our wonderful country.

I want nothing more than for my grandchildren to have the same freedoms and opportunities that I have had, and I don’t want them to spend their lives trapped in a brew of self-loathing because their forefathers did things everyone else of their time did – and did them better.

September 11, 2001 - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The GOOD includes the incredible courage and devotion to duty shown by the firefighters and police officers of New York City. In their repeated attempts to rescue victims trapped in the World Trade Towers, 388 firefighters lost their lives. This incredible number includes 21 chiefs, 20 captains and 47 lieutenants. The New York City Police Department lost 75 personnel attempting to save and protect people in and around the buildings. One New York City high school, Staten Island High, lost 23 alumni in 9/11, of which 50 % were firefighters or police officers.

We shall also save a special place in our hearts and memories for the people, including especially Captain Jason Dahl, plus the 40 passengers on flight 93, who deliberately crashed their plane in the Pennsylvania woods, rather than landing on the White House or the Capitol building.

The BAD includes the 3030 people who lost their lives that day in the Towers, in Flight 93 and at the Pentagon. It includes also the casualties and the incredible hardships faced by our troops and our agents fighting Islamic terrorism in Afghanistan, Iraq and in more than 100 countries around the world. When any misguided know-nothing cusses out the CIA, remind him of the sacrifice made by Mike Spann, a CIA agent who was the first to lose his life in Afghanistan defending America. The BAD must also include the certain knowledge that thousands of radical and inhuman Muslim terrorists hate us and want us dead for no other reason than that we are a free people.

The UGLY has to be the short duration of time that the hate-America crowd muttered patriotic thoughts as they considered that these catastrophes were really all our fault. While American soldiers are fighting and dying, and cruel, barbaric people are planting bombs and cutting off heads, this crowd is worrying about possible slights to the Koran, or prisoners wearing panties at Abu Ghraib. As a Bush Administration official said, "Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers"

Meanwhile Progress Continues As Iraq's Sunnis Register to Vote in Droves

One of the major reasons for our efforts in Iraq was to change the dynamics of the Arab world by introducing democracy in one of its most significant states, Iraq. Even though Katrina is on everyone’s minds, it is hard to understand why the Washington Post would bury this story on page 24. The new surge in registrations deals a terrific defeat to the Zarqawi terror network, which has repeatedly warned of their intent to target anyone who participates in democracy. Even if the Sunnis manage to vote down the new Iraqi constitution and force a delay in the whole process, they are now voting with ballots, not bullets, and the terrorists cannot win if we persevere.

By Ellen Knickmeyer and Bassam Sebti
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, September 8, 2005; A24

“BAGHDAD, Sept. 7 -- Voter registration soared in some Sunni Arab parts of Iraq as Sunnis mobilized to try to vote down a draft constitution they believe will divide the country, according to figures released Wednesday at the close of registration for the Oct. 15 referendum.

The results of the Sunni registration campaign came on a day of violence in the predominantly Shiite south. Local officials in Basra, the largest city in the region, said a car bombing killed 16 people, including at least two children, news agencies reported.

A roadside bombing in Basra earlier in the day killed four American security contractors who were in the lead vehicle of a convoy of U.S. diplomatic officials. No one else was injured, an official said. While political tensions have been high in Basra, bombings have been rare.

The surge in voter registration in the heavily Sunni west signaled the minority's belated entry into the country's political process. Most Sunnis stood on the sidelines of the Jan. 30 national elections that seated the transitional government, which was charged with drafting the constitution. As a result, Sunnis were left with diminished political leverage in negotiations over the document.

This time, "we registered to defeat the constitution," said Khalid Jubouri, a guard at a government ministry in Fallujah, a city in the volatile western province of Anbar. "This is considered fighting by word and thought. We are optimistic about the battle, and we will win it eventually."

Registration in Anbar swelled from a tiny percentage of eligible adults in January to nearly 85 percent, said Muhammed Ibrahim, the director of voter registration centers in the province.

Ibrahim said about 600,000 of the province's 715,000 eligible adults registered, despite pledges from al Qaeda in Iraq, an insurgent group led by Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian, that anyone who took part in the voting would become a target for killing.

"It is a big number we didn't expect given the security situation in the province," Ibrahim said. "It is a great number."”

I thought you might also like to see a related piece from an Iraqi website:

IRAQ THE MODEL, September 7, 2005

In order to keep you updated on the constitutional process in Iraq, I translated this report from Baghdad's Al-Mashriq newspaper:
Maryam Arrayis (CDC member) told Al-Mashriq that there will be minor changes to the current draft before sending it to the UN before this weekend.
Ms. Arrayis stressed that the changes are minor and do not change the essence of the constitution.

She said that the expected changes will relate to the issues of the role of Iraq in the Arab league and the way of handling the resources by the provinces/federal states and the central government and deciding who's got the final word in case of differences. Regarding the 2nd point, Arrayis said that the Sheat block is in favor of giving the central government a bigger role since they consider this issue "sovereignty-related".

On the other hands, the Kurdish block had a suggestion to reduce the powers of the prime minister by assigning two deputies and granting them the right of the veto, this suggestion wasn't welcomed by the Sheat block that refused stepping on the authorities of the prime minister building their discussion on the fact that the prime minister himself is the one who appoints the deputies and gives them their authorities.

It is planned to get all this done with by this weekend and then the process of printing 5 million copies of the document will begin; those copies shall be distributed to Iraqi families through food ration distributors.

Arrayis also criticized the negative attitude of the Arab League towards Iraq and she condemned the interference in Iraq's internal and political affairs while most Arab countries didn't show sympathy or provided help after the tragedy of the bridge stampede in Baghdad and Arrayis commended what President Talbani said about exchanging diplomatic representation with Arab countries when he played down the significance of having Arab embassies in Baghdad "we're not going to beg for embassies and we're not going to starve if Arab countries refused sending their ambassadors…" said Talbani on a previous statement last week.

It's worth mentioning that the process of registering the voters has ended and there will be an extra million voter this time with a total of over 15.5 million voters. In Anbar province around 50,000 voters registered their names in the voter's lists in addition to the names that already exist.”

I Must Defend the President and New Orleans from Katrina Smears

Most of the television news channels and the political left have been hysterical in their comments about Hurricane Katrina. CNN actually committed fraud by editing out of a previous newscast the report that the President had urged local officials to evacuate New Orleans before Katrina hit. Insane claims by left-wing nuts that President Bush botched the recovery effort on purpose so as to kill black people are repeated by the Main Stream Media without analysis or perspective. Meanwhile, no one points out that it was President Bush who implored Governor Blanco to issue a first-ever mandatory evacuation order for the city, an action by the President that probably saved tens of thousands of lives.

First, as to the comments by Speaker Haskert on not rebuilding New Orleans:

Obviously the city cannot be sited the same way it was, with much of it below the surrounding water levels, but the Stratfor Intelligence Organization says, “The ports of South Louisiana and New Orleans, which run north and south of the city, are as important today as at any point during the history of the republic. On its own merit, the Port of South Louisiana is the largest port in the United States by tonnage and the fifth-largest in the world. It exports more than 52 million tons a year, of which more than half are agricultural products -- corn, soybeans and so on. A larger proportion of U.S. agriculture flows out of the port. Almost as much cargo, nearly 57 million tons, comes in through the port -- including not only crude oil, but chemicals and fertilizers, coal, concrete and so on.

A simple way to think about the New Orleans port complex is that it is where the bulk commodities of agriculture go out to the world and the bulk commodities of industrialism come in. The commodity chain of the global food industry starts here, as does that of American industrialism. If these facilities are gone, more than the price of goods shifts: The very physical structure of the global economy would have to be reshaped. Consider the impact to the U.S. auto industry if steel doesn't come up the river, or the effect on global food supplies if U.S. corn and soybeans don't get to the markets.” "Stratfor.com", George Friedman, 9/2/05

Second, as to the hurricane being caused by global warming:

“There’s no evidence, in fact, of any increase in either the frequency or the intensity of hurricanes since Man has been polluting the atmosphere. The US National Hurricane Center says that an average of 19 hurricanes hit the US landmass each decade in the second half of the 19th century. In the second half of the 20th century, the average was 14. In the first half of this decade, the US is precisely on course to meet the stable average frequency of the most serious hurricanes (Category 3, 4, and 5) of the past 100 years.” "Times Online", Gerald Baker, 9/2/05

Third, as to the response by President Bush:

Certainly his first address to the country could have been better, but the primary responsibility for preparing for the hurricane and for evacuation and rescue was clearly in the hands of the mayor and the governor, who, incidentally, had the legal responsibility to activate the LA National Guard and to request Guard units from other states. The picture of the buses not being used and not even moved to high ground (nor were police cars) tells it all. New Orleans, a 287-year-old city built below sea level in the middle of a superhighway for hurricanes, needed at least a bare-bones plan for a catastrophic emergency — a Category 4 hurricane or the breaching of one of its levees.

As far as we can tell, it didn't have one. Certainly not one that worked. Maybe years of political and police corruption in Louisiana and New Orleans matter today more than people think.

“All of these developments -- old as well as recent -- give our state the image of a Third World country where bribes and kickbacks grease the wheels of government for a select few. It's not just an image problem; it is rooted in reality. Louisiana traditionally ranks among the most corrupt states in the nation, according to a 2004 report by the Corporate Crime Reporter for the National Press Club.” “Best of New Orleans.com”, 8/16/05

Fourth, as to the levees giving way due to federal budget cuts:

The levees that collapsed were ones that had recently been improved with federal money.
Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, chief of engineers for the Corps, dismissed suggestions that recent federal funding decreases or delayed contracts had any impact on levee performance in the face of Katrina's overwhelming force. “National Geographic News”, 9/2/05

It’s still unclear whether even with higher levels of funding the levees would have been strong enough to withstand Katrina in time. The Army Corps of Engineers has backed the president and said that the levees were built for only a category three hurricane and were in satisfactory shape. “Times Online”, 9/4/05

Fifth, as to rescue attempts being hampered by a shortage of military personnel due to the Iraq War:

Ten-thousand more National Guard troops are going to Louisiana and Mississippi. -- That brings the total to about 40-thousand. “Associated Press”, 9/3/05

Senator Nelson Likes $5 Gas That No One Can Get

As one who suffered through the devastation of Hurricane Charley, I know that, as bad as our situation was, the people on the Gulf Coast have suffered much more due to the flooding that followed Katrina. Every effort ought to be made to alieve their suffering and stabilize their situation as quickly as possible. The American Red Cross and the National Guard saved us in Florida by bringing us ice, bottled water and hot meals every day. Even so, it is over a year later, and very little rebuilding has been done in the areas of Florida that were hardest hit. That is reality.

The really disgusting part of all of this is listening to the politicizing and complaining that is being done on the heels of this catastrophe. The hurricane was not the fault of Governor Barbour; it was not the fault of President Bush; it was not caused by manmade global warming; and there is no organization on the planet that can cope with a disaster of this magnitude. The problem is, the worst is yet to come. There will be agonizing delays on every front, and once the mold takes hold, there will also be wide scale sickness and condemnation of buildings that made it through the storm. There will be large scale fraud and attempts by insurance companies not to pay claims. We in Florida have seen it all.

Even though I condemn the backbiting, there is one area that cries out for coverage: the inexcusable gasoline shortages and price increases. The Democratic Party has shut off drilling for new oil supplies; and now they want price controls that will shut everything down. They have stopped us from drilling in Anwar and in the Gulf of Mexico; they have stopped the building of new refineries; now, in the midst of further shortages created by Hurricane Katrina, Senator Nelson (D,FL) is raising alarms about new drilling. He is more concerned that the crisis might open some people’s eyes as to the terrible position in which Democrat policies have placed the ordinary people of this country, than he is about people’s needs, some of whom could not even get gasoline to escape the destruction of Katrina.

As far as price controls are concerned, they have never worked. The supplies of everything always dry up, and black markets immediately appear. The ignorance of economics and history of those on the left is truly astonishing. We need to license and build more refineries, none of which have been built in 30 years; and we need to drill for domestic supplies of crude oil immediately in Anwar and in the Gulf of Mexico. Conservation is also required, but growth and jobs come from an adequate supply of energy. If Katrina forces an urgent, emergency program to open up more oil and gasoline supplies, some good will come of it.

Multiculturalism Is the Poison That Could Kill Us

Multiculturalism, the opposite of the melting pot, is the concept that all cultures have equal value, and, therefore, immigrants to America should not be assimilated because American culture is no better than the culture they sacrificed everything to escape. If this seems illogical and ridiculous, it doesn’t seem to matter because this is what is being taught to many American children. To make things worse, multiculturalism proponents usually carry this a major step further. They proclaim that American culture is evil because some of our forefathers engaged in some of the same behaviors the rest of the world practiced: we had slaves; we conquered; we protected our interests; we succeeded.

Balkanization, of course, is another word for the extremes of multiculturalism, and the dissolution and deadly upheavals of Yugoslavia can be laid directly at multiculturalism’s door. Here in the USA we do not seem to be in any such danger (except possibly in California), because we have not yet carried multiculturalism to the degree it has been practiced in other countries – Great Britain and Australia, for example. The rise of Islamic terrorism, however, gives new urgency to fighting off those who would divide our country to well-meaning, but disastrous ends.

This is part of an August 15, 2005 column in the “Australian” by John Stone:

“SINCE London's July 7 bombings, the federal Government has been under pressure to address Australia's rapidly growing Muslim problem. But it clearly still wants to avoid the real issues: the need to abandon outright our official multiculturalism policies and the need to sharply reduce, to the point of virtually halting, further inflow of people whose culture (Islam) is such that there can be no realistic hope of them ever integrating into Australian society.

A YouGov poll among Britain's Muslims immediately after the July 7 bombings (London's The Daily Telegraph, July 23) found 6 per cent believed them fully justified. A further 24 per cent, while not condoning the bombings, expressed sympathy with the feelings and motives of their perpetrators. Some 32 per cent believe "Western society is decadent and immoral" and "Muslims should seek to bring it to an end"
How do our multiculturalism apologists ignore such figuring? Even if they feel their own, typically comfortable lives aren't in much danger, don't they care about other Australians (for example, those using public transport) likely to be killed or maimed when calamity strikes? Don't they have children, or grandchildren, who will live in an increasingly Muslim-influenced Australia?”

On the other hand, because we have not yet let multiculturalism run wild in the USA, Paul Campos in the August 30, 2005 issue of “Rocky Mountain News” could say, “Whatever the truth may be, we should not lose sight of the fact that a nation (USA) that is home to approximately 3 million Arab-Americans and 2 million Muslims has failed to produce any sign of the sort of indigenous Islamic terrorist groups that were behind the Bali, Madrid and London bombings.”

America is a land of shared values, shared traditions and a common language - English. Our immigrants should be encouraged to honor as much of their old culture as they wish, but mainly they should be helped to assimilate and share the American dream. In the Massachusetts Department of Motor Vehicles, the written test for a driver’s license is given in 27 different languages. We could start by ending this practice. We could stop the foolishness.